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When starting our project we wanted to find out whether in the future mycelium could replace normal building materials such as wood and/or insulation.
Mycelium is a form of fungi/mushroom that feeds on substrates, like the ones we tested such as coffee, flour, cardboard, pine needles, and then binds them together to create a strong material.
In our project we tested the strength, fire resistance and insulation properties of a mycelium-based material (and also tested different substrates in the mycelium) compared to normal building materials.
To conclude this project, our hypothesis in the beginning was: “If mycelium can withstand tests of fire, pressure and insulation, then it would be a viable, cheap and sustainable replacement for building materials like wood and foam insulation.”
Mycelium has on the whole proven to be a viable replacement for more traditional building materials. Although mycelium cannot replace wood for building large structures as it cannot hold as much weight, it still has considerable strength and, from the data from our experiments, in the future it could be used to replace wood in furniture.
It was a very exciting development to find that in our experiments mycelium with flour and wood chips was better at insulating than fibreglass insulation itself.
Lastly, we have shown that mycelium is an exciting new direction in helping stop climate change by being an easy way to reduce the amount of carbon produced in creating normal building materials (by making it yourself) and also by recycling old kitchen waste.
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